Part 19 (2/2)

A coy grin spread across my face as I angled for ”light and flirty.” ”Well, I had some questions about one of your inmates, and I figured I'd just start at the top and work my way down.” The s.e.xual innuendo in that statement was not lost on me.

He almost blushed. ”I'm not exactly the top, but I'm glad you think so highly of me.”

I chuckled appropriately and brought out my notebook.

”Luann tells me you're a private investigator now.”

Luann, meaning his secretary. ”Yes, I am. I'm currently working with APD on a DOA resulting in an FTA.” I purposely threw around a few acronyms to make myself sound savvy.

He arched his brows. At least he seemed impressed. That would help in the long run. ”And this is about that case?”

”It's all related,” I said, lying my a.s.s off. ”I'm actually here about a man who was convicted of murder about ten years ago. Can you tell me anything about a-” I looked down at my notepad, feigning tedium. ”-a Reyes Farrow? I was hoping to question him regarding a case, you know, about this case thing I'm working on with...”

I lost my train of thought when Neil paled before my eyes. He picked up his phone and stabbed a b.u.t.ton. ”Luann, can you come in here?”

d.a.m.n, was I in trouble already? Was he kicking me out? I just got here. I knew I should have thrown around more acronyms, but I just couldn't think of any. The NAACP! Why didn't I think of the NAACP? That scares the c.r.a.p out of everyone.

”Yes, sir?” Luann asked as she opened the door.

”Can you get me the file on Reyes Farrow?”

Phew.

But Luann hesitated. ”Sir?”

”It's okay, Luann. Just get me Farrow's file.”

She glanced at me, then back at him. ”Immediately, sir.”

She was good. Cookie never said, Immediately, ma'am. We'd have to talk. And Luann's reaction was just as interesting as Neil's. She had a very feminine demeanor. Very bubble baths and wine beneath her business suit. But in a heartbeat, she had become protective. Almost angry. Though her anger didn't seem directed at me.

”Is this about the incident?” Neil asked. ”I didn't think Farrow had any relatives.”

”The incident?” I asked as Luann brought in the file and handed it to him. She left without giving me a second glance. Had something happened to Reyes? Maybe he really was dead. Maybe that's why he suddenly started showing up out of the blue.

Neil flipped open the file and studied it. ”Right. This shows no living relatives. Who hired you?” He locked his gaze with mine, and the rebel in me took over.

”That information is privileged, Neil. I would hate to have to bring the DA into this.”

”The DA? He's already aware of the situation, I a.s.sure you.”

Oops. Well, that didn't help. Oh, for heaven's sake. I pulled in a deep breath. ”Look, Neil, this is more of a personal quest, okay. I am working on a case, but it's not related. I just...” I just what? Want to rape your prisoner? Want to see if he can become incorporeal? ”I just want to talk to him.”

My lashes lowered with my admission. I probably looked like an idiot. One of those prison groupies who wrote love letters to inmates and got hitched for the conjugal visits.

”So, you don't know?” he asked. A hint of relief laced his voice. But something else, too. Regret maybe?

”Apparently not.” He was going to say it. Reyes was dead. Died, what, a month ago? I waited with bated breath for the news.

”Farrow's in a coma. Has been for almost a month.”

It took me a few moments to pick my jaw up off the floor and find my voice again. When I did, I asked, ”A coma? What? Why? What happened?”

Neil rose from his desk and handed me the file. ”How about some coffee?”

As if it were encrusted with precious jewels, I took the thick folder from him, then said absently, ”I'd kill for some.” Oops. ”No, I wouldn't,” I a.s.sured him, glancing around the maximum-security prison. ”I've never killed anyone. Except that one guy, but he had it coming.”

My feeble attempt at humor seemed to relax Neil. An echo of a smile thinned his mouth. ”You haven't changed at all.”

I bit my lower lip. ”That's probably bad, huh?”

”Not in the least.”

He left me wondering about his statement and went for coffee as I examined Reyes's file, also known as the Holy Grail.

Chapter Twelve.

Reyes Farrow.

Because perfection is a dirty job,

but someone has to do it.

-CHARLOTTE JEAN DAVIDSON ”You knew him?” Neil asked me over an hour later. I'd been reading. We'd been chatting. Garrett called. I ignored.

And I learned. Approximately one month earlier, a fight broke out in the yard, and the prison immediately went into lockdown. Everyone was supposed to get on the ground. When one of the inmates, a large childlike man Reyes had befriended, got confused and didn't go down, a guard in one of the towers prepared to fire a warning shot. Reyes saw this and tackled his friend to get him down, thinking the guard was going to shoot him. Instead of burrowing harmlessly in the dirt as intended, the bullet found Reyes's skull and pierced his frontal lobe. He'd been in a coma since.

I glanced up and refocused on Neil's question. ”Just from that one incident when I was in high school,” I said. I'd told him about the night I first saw Reyes, the physical abuse he'd suffered at the hands of the man he supposedly killed. Neil didn't seem surprised. I closed the file and looked into his gray eyes. ”Just between us,” I said, leaning forward to make the statement more intimate, ”between old friends,” I elaborated, ”what did you know about him? What did you think of him?” I tapped the file with my fingertips. ”What's not here?”

Neil sat back in his chair, adjusted his collar, and dragged in a long, deep breath. ”If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.”

That was promising. ”Bet I would,” I said with a wink.

He stared at me a good minute before he spoke. And when he did speak, it was with a reluctance I understood all too well. He truly doubted I would believe him. If he only knew ...

”Something strange happened when Farrow first got here, about a week after he'd been released into gen-pop,” he said, glancing down to study the clasp on his watch. ”South Side sent three of their soldiers to kill him. Why, I don't know, but when South Side attacks, people die. Period.”

My chest tightened and I ground my teeth together, trying hard not to react, not to show what the thought of Reyes in that position did to me.

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